Obesity remains a serious health problem and it is no secret that many people want to lose weight. Behavioral economists typically argue that “nudges” help individuals with various decisionmaking flaws to live longer, healthier, and better lives. In an article in the new issue of Regulation, Michael L. Marlow discusses how nudging by government differs from nudging by markets, and explains why market nudging is the more promising avenue for helping citizens to lose weight.

Armed with a computer model in 1935, one could probably have written the exact same story on California drought as appears today in the Washington Post some 80 years ago, prompted by the very similar outlier temperatures of 1934 and 2014.

Two long wars, chronic deficits, the financial crisis, the costly drug war, the growth of executive power under Presidents Bush and Obama, and the revelations about NSA abuses, have given rise to a growing libertarian movement in our country – with a greater focus on individual liberty and less government power. David Boaz’s newly released The Libertarian Mind is a comprehensive guide to the history, philosophy, and growth of the libertarian movement, with incisive analyses of today’s most pressing issues and policies.

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Cyberbullying Bill on the March

Federal prosecutors moved to criminalize internet harassment last year by prosecuting Lori Drew. Lori Drew, as you may recall, is a Missouri woman who created a fictional MySpace profile named “Josh” and started an online relationship with Megan Meier, a teenage girl who may have spread gossip about Drew’s daughter at the local high school. After “Josh” broke up with her, Megan Meier killed herself.

While this is despicable conduct, Missouri prosecutors found that Drew had broken no criminal statute and could not be prosecuted.

Enter Thomas O’Brien, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. O’Brien filed charges against Drew based on alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). O’Brien alleged that by violating MySpace’s policy requiring factual information in the user profile and affirming the click-to-agree contract, Lori Drew had committed a crime akin to hacking or unauthorized access of computer data. Because of MySpace’s ties to the Central District of California, Lori Drew was haled into court halfway across the country.

Though the jury convicted Drew and reduced the felony charges to misdemeanors, District Judge George Wu threw out the conviction because the statute would allow the prosecution of nearly anyone on the internet. The decision is available here. The government has since filed a notice of appeal. Orin Kerr notes that the appeal may face additional hurdles – the line of cases that the government used to interpret the statute so broadly has been overturned by the Ninth Circuit.

Several members of Congress have since jumped on the Named Victim Act bandwagon, sponsoring the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act. The Act goes far beyond the issue of unauthorized access, criminalizing any rude speech delivered via the internet, cell phone, or text message:

‘(a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

‘(b) As used in this section–

‘(1) the term ‘communication’ means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; and

‘(2) the term ‘electronic means’ means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.’.

The scope of this law is breathtaking. Had a rough breakup with your significant other? Engaged in a flame war on a website’s comment section? We’ve got a law against that, you know.